Yoga: Beat that bad breath with yoga!

Your company is hosting a party for a recent success and every employee and board member is going to be there. You are dressed in your best evening gown, matching accessories and a pair of gorgeous stilettoes to compliment your look. People are admiring your look and complementing you.
Everything is perfect, until you notice that your breath has started to smell bad; perhaps because of that starter you just had! People notice this too and keep the conversations short and move away quickly.

What could've been a perfect evening to impress your bosses quickly turns into a disastrous one. Even with your perfectly dressed look, your bad breath has played havoc and ruined your evening.
We all have experienced similar situations in our life. Bad breath, clinically known as Halitosis, is an unlucky charm that makes you uncomfortable and kills your confidence.

Though most would feel that lack of brushing the teeth properly is the only reason for bad breath, this may not be entirely true.Bad breath may be caused due to reasons such as irregular food habits, improper digestion, less intake of water and type of food consumed. Researchers believe that people with dry mouth are more prone to bad breath rather than ones whose mouth is usually moist.Smoking and consumption of alcohol fouls your breath too. The white deposition on the tongue also serves as home to a lot of bacteria and thus fouls your breath.

While oral hygiene should definitely be given priority, you may find that bad breath keeps coming back no matter what measures you adopt to counter it. At such times, one must look at options such as Yoga. Though yoga may be perceived as a physical workout regime, it also helps overcome problems such as bad breath. Yoga helps cleanse your body from outside as well as inside. It also helps calm the mind and reduces stress.

Sri Sri Yoga is a 10-hour wellness course spread over a couple of days that helps eliminate physical pain and stress. The course is conducted by trained professionals who help chalk out a custom yoga routine according to your needs and lifestyle. This course is for beginners and can be practiced with ease, even in the comfort of your home.

Kapal Bhati Pranayama

Sit comfortably with your spine erect. Place your hands on the knees, palms open to the sky and breathe in. As your breath out, pull your stomach in. As you relax the navel and abdomen, the breath flows back into your lungs automatically. Repeat this for 20 times.

Yoga Mudra

Sit in Padmasana or Sukhasana. While keeping your eyes closed, bend your body forward until your forehead touches the ground. Relax in this position and then return back to the starting position. Repeat this 5 to 10 times.

Sheetkari pranayama

With mouth open, clench your teeth and press the tongue against the teeth. Breathe in. Close your mouth and breathe out normally through the nostrils. Repeat 5 to 10 times: inhaling from the left and exhaling from the right.

Sheetali pranayama

Stick your tongue out and curl the sides of the tongue upward towards the center of the tongue. Breathe in through the mouth, hold the breath and slowly exhale through the nose. Repeat 5 to 10 times.

Simhasana (Lion pose)

Kneel down on the yoga mat and place your right foot below the left buttock and vice versa. Place your hands on the knees, spread out the fingers and lean forward. The weight of the body should be on the hands while the hands remain straight. Open your mouth and stick the tongue out. Eyes should be wide open and face muscles tense. Your gaze should be fixed on the tip of the nose or at the center of the eyebrows.

Bad breath is a very common occurrence amongst people everywhere and is nothing to be ashamed of. Stressful lifestyles with hectic work schedules disturb the body equilibrium, giving way to problems such as bad breath, insomnia and headaches. Sri Sri Yoga can help you eliminate these conditions and set you free. Incorporating these suggested tips in our lives will help overcome many health issues and also boost our capabilities in all spheres of life. Add a dash of yoga postures to this and life will be right back on track, enabling you to enjoy it without inhibitions or embarrassments and letting you breathe a sigh of relief!